Bev Jones: My Life In Music, Riley Smith Hall, Tadcaster, April 14

The song and dance extravaganza will take place at the Riley Smith Hall in Tadcaster, using Bev’s arrangements, routines and costumes, and proceeds from the 2.30pm and 7.30pm tribute concerts will go to the Alzheimer’s Society, which leads the fight against dementia.

In late 2011, Bev had a fall in Parliament Street, York, which started a chain of events that has resulted in his no longer being able to produce shows, or even play his piano now that he has vascular dementia, having had a series of strokes and suffered nerve damage in his neck too.

“Last April would have marked Bev’s 50th year on stage, for which he originally had planned to produce a large-scale show at the York Barbican, staging some of his best-known arrangements and his own favourite musical pieces,” says My Life In Music concert organiser Joe Wawrzyniak.

Bev’s deteriorating medical condition precluded the possibility of the gala concert going ahead. “But at the end of last year we put a request to Bev’s wife, Lesley, to produce a show ourselves that would mark the achievements of such an inspirational man,” says Joe.

“Since then, we’ve brought together some of Bev’s past companies from around the area, including students he has mentored who have progressed to drama school and now turned professional.”

Many of Bev’s players who have worked with him over the years jumped at the chance to perform for Bev one last time, among them York musical actor Sam Cook, still better known in York by his pre-Equity name of Sam Coulson.

“Sam starred in many shows for Bev and other York amateur societies and he’ll be flying back from Australia a few days before the show to make an appearance. He said that he ‘wouldn’t miss it for the world’,” says Joe.

“There are past cast members returning from university and drama schools all over the country to rehearse at weekends and take part in this one-day spectacular, as well as professional musicians performing for no fee, and many other kind people are donating sound and technical equipment to aid the show’s success. This is a real testament to people’s respect and admiration to Bev’s talents and service to the York musical theatre scene and beyond.”

Joining Joe in the production team are choreographers Lois Hardy and Iain Harvey; musical director Jez Smith; chorus master Gill Boler and fellow rehearsal pianist James Rogers; and stage manager Anna Webster. All of them have worked with Bev ever since his I Got The Music In Me show at the Grand Opera House in 2005.

The cast will number between 25 and 28, aged from late teens to late 50s, and the orchestra will feature up to ten players. Among the performers will be soloists Sam Cook, singing Why God Why from Miss Saigon; Jenna Howlett, performing When You Tell Me That You Love Me; and Harriet Hare, singing I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady. George Stagnell, Eleanor Leaper, Aran MacRae, Ashley Stilborn, Nathan Lodge, Laura Lister and Lucy Mulvihill are taking part too.

“Many of them have agreed to attend rehearsals during the Easter holidays when they can be in York, taking leave from various colleges in London and Liverpool, where they’re now training to be professional musical theatre performers,” says Lesley.

“Many took their first steps on stage under Bev’s guidance and this gave them the confidence to choose to tackle acting, singing or dancing as a profession.”

The show’s celebratory look at Bev’s past will include some of his favourite numbers such as his arrangement of How Deep Is The Night; a Summer Holiday medley; music from Hairspray; Bev’s signature Finalé number; and a section from his last fully produced show, Les Miserables.

All this will be interspersed with the story of Bev’s life and achievements. “The words ‘Bev Jones’, ‘music’ and ‘theatre’ have been synonymous with each other for the past 40 years,” says Joe. “From chorister at York Minster and for HM The Queen’s Coronation at Westminster Abbey, to musical advisor to television companies, Bev has done it all and inspired hundreds along his way.”

His parents were two of the founding members of one of York’s leading amateur theatre groups, York Light Opera Company, for whom Bev performed many times, most notably as the Vagabond King in April 1963.

In the years that followed, he travelled the length and breadth of the country as a regular face on the cabaret circuit, even working with such celebrities as Dame Shirley Bassey at Batley Variety Club.

On returning to Yorkshire, he became musical director for York Light in 1977 and then added producer to his title the following year.

In 26 years with the society, he produced such hit shows as Kismet, Anything Goes and his own versions of The Pirates Of Penzance and Jesus Christ Superstar in 2004, while also becoming producer for many other amateur dramatic societies, such as Bradford Catholic Players and Leeds Amateur Society.

In 2005, Bev bid farewell to York Light and set up his own Northern Musical Theatre company with the help of his wife Lesley. The first of his Showtime Spectacular musical revues was followed by Les Miserables School Edition in 2007 at the Grand Opera House.

Joe, who now works in the box office at York Theatre Royal, is typical of those grateful for Bev’s guidance and encouragement, having played the Pirate King in The Pirates Of Penzance for him at York Theatre Royal in 2008 and performed in his Showtime Spectaculars at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, and the Bradford Alhambra.

“He also tutored me for playing Beast in Beauty And The Beast and when I was auditioning for drama schools, he helped me with audition pieces and equipment,” recalls Joe.

Tickets for Bev Jones: My Life In Music, A Song & Dance Extravaganza In Tribute To York’s Mr Music Man can be bought in person from the Riley Smith Hall, Tadcaster, on March 2 and 3, which is recommended strongly to guarantee premium seats. General release follows from March 8 on 07877 691259.

The ticket price is a flat rate of £10 flat rate and monies raised from the charity shows will be donated to the Alzheimer’s Society UK’s northern branch, which is supporting Bev and Lesley through trying times.

Patrons from the charity will be among those attending, along with Bev’s colleagues from the world of musical theatre.

“Bev knows nothing about this forthcoming tribute, but Joe and everyone hope to reconstruct some happy memories for Bev and raise money for a good cause at the same time,” says Lesley.

“And of course they will provide the audience with a typical Bev Jones, all singing, all-dancing show full of all the old familiar tunes, plus many others that have never been repeated since the original production by Bev.”

Meanwhile, Bev and Lesley have received a letter from Westminster Abbey, from the Dean of Westminster, inviting Bev to take part in The Queen’s 60th Anniversary Coronation Service in June, having sung in the 1953 ceremony as a young choirboy from York Minster.

“The letter states that the official invite will come direct from Buckingham Palace,” says Lesley. “It’s my ambition to do everything in my power to make the visit possible for Bev as it will hopefully bring back very happy memories from 60 years ago.

“Although Bev’s condition means that he ‘lives in the moment’, he does have long-term memory when it involves music, and he can recall every note of every piece of music he ever sang or played from the age of seven at York Minster, so The Queen’s Coronation is as though it was yesterday to Bev.”